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MCP Boat Blog is a presentation of Filer Credit Union, with offices in Manistee, Ludington and Bear Lake, www.filercu.com and the Mason County Historical Society’s Port of Ludington Maritime Museum, ludingtonmaritimemuseum.org, located at 217 S. Lakeshore Dr., Ludington.
Documenting west Michigan’s commercial and recreational maritime industry.
By Rob Alway, Editor-in-Chief
Saturday, May 24, 2025
MUSKEGON — The MV Kaye E. Barker paid a visit to Muskegon today. I wasn’t quite able to get to the pier heads in time, but I was able to get her traveling on Muskegon Lake and then unloading at her destination, the Verplank Port Facility, located at the former Cobb electric plant near the Muskegon Causeway.
My first drone launch site, and a great place to watch ships, was Heritage Landing near downtown Muskegon. From that vantage point there is also a great view of the activities happening at the historic Mart Dock (more on that in a future Boat Blog).
I photographed the ship passing by and then later stationed myself at Richards Park, located at the south end of the Muskegon Causeway. When I photographed the MV Mark W. Barker at the Verplank Port Facility earlier this month, I based out of Fisherman’s Landing, located a little farther south. However, that is a pay-to-park facility and I found Richards Park to be closer.
Kaye E. Barker on Muskegon Lake
Like the Mark W. Barker, mentioned above, the Kaye E. Barker is owned by Interlake Steamship Co. out of Middleburg Heights, Ohio near Cleveland. It is 767-feet long with a breadth of 70-feet and a depth of 36-feet.
It was built as the Edward B. Greene by the American Shipbuilding Co., Toledo, in 1952, and was the flagship of the Cleveland-Cliffs Steamship Co. fleet. In 1976, it was lengthened 120-feet at Fraser Shipyards, Superior, Wis.
In 1981, it was converted to a self-unloader at American Shipbuilding Co., Toledo.
From 1985, it was acquired by Rouge Steel Co. and was renamed the Benson Ford (3). In 1989, it joined the Interlake Steamship Company’s fleet and was renamed the Kaye E. Barker, honoring the wife of Interlake’s chairman of the board and president (at the time), James R. Baker. In 2012 it was re-powered at Bay Shipbuilding in Sturgeon Bay, Wis.
It has a cargo capacity of 25,900 gross tons.
Sources: “Know Your Ships” book, Interlake Steamship Co. website
More photos can be seen on the MCP Instagram page and even more exclusively to subscribers (see information below).
The Mason County Historical Society is a non-profit charitable organization that was founded in 1937 that does not receive any governmental funding. It owns and operates the Port of Ludington Maritime Museum in Ludington, Historic White Pine Village in Pere Marquette Township, and The Rose Hawley Archives and the Mason County Emporium and Sweet Shop in downtown Ludington.
For more information about donating to and/or joining the Mason County Historical Society, visit masoncountymihistory.org.
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